December 31, 2005
Dear Friends of Common Light,
Here is an update of Events of 2006, the second half of our second year at Common Light. Some of you will have received an earlier version at the beginning of December before we lost our AOL connectivity. Now we have cable access to it with the same addresses.
As Anais Nin has eloquently stated, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." Autumn brought an expansive beginning to Common Light Meetingplace's second year, "Dialogues on Courage." Now we want to alert you to a cornucopia of future offerings for January through May. We hope that you will be drawn to join us at one or more of these events--all intended to deepen our reservoirs of courage and therefore expand our lives. To all of you, we send warm greetings at the year's turning, hoping that 2006 will find our species renewed in the courage needed to act in accord with the dignity and compassion which define our humanity.
The New Year begins with a reading/discussion group on Albert Camus' novel THE PLAGUE and its relevance to an ethic of nonviolence. This will be facilitated by MEL KEISER and TONY BING. Tony's thinking about Camus' philosophy in the context of teaching Peace Studies issued in three Charles Lectures on THE PLAGUE which are available at www.earlham.edu/~tonyb/bing_charles1.html . It is suggested that participants have read at least the first third of the novel by the initial meeting on JANUARY 8, and the remainder by JANUARY 15. These two meetings are on successive SUNDAY afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, following tea and coffee. The final meeting will follow a potluck supper on FRIDAY evening, JANUARY 20, 5:30 to 8. (No fee; donations appreciated).
In case of uncertainty of meeting because of snow and ice, phone 828-669-3616.
On FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 7 to 8:30 pm, "APPOINTMENT WITH A WISE OLD DOG: DREAM IMAGES IN A TIME OF CRISIS" will be shown. In this film, (introduced by Yo-Yo Mah) conductor/cellist DAVID BLUM recorded his medical and spiritual journey and how he found ways to bring his dreams into his life through music and pastel drawings. Following the viewing, Gaetana Friedman, artist and retired therapist, will lead a discussion on "active imagination," C. G. Jung's term for the process of extending dream images into one's conscious life, illustrated so poignantly and powerfully in this film. Snow date: SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 5 - 6:30 pm. (No fee; donations appreciated.)
FEBRUARY 3 & 4, FRIDAY 6:45-8:45 pm and SATURDAY 9:00-4:00 pm, a basic workshop on THE ENNEAGRAM AND SPIRITUALITY will be facilitated by Sandra Smith, Director of Holy Ground and a certified Enneagram teacher in the oral tradition trained by Helen Palmer and David Daniels. Before the workshop, it is suggested that participants know their Enneagram type; to sign up for a one-hour interview with Sandra Smith to reflect on and sort out your type, call 286-0222. ($100 for workshop; $40 for interview).
In FEBRUARY, several EVENTS ON CIVIL RIGHTS co-led by Veterans of Hope, Rev. Nelson Johnson, Pastor of Faith Community Church, Greensboro, NC and Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Asst. Prof., Department of Religion, U of FL.
Public Presentation at Warren Wilson College REFLECTIONS ON THE LESSONS OF TWO LIVES ON THE STRUGGLE AND THE RELEVANCE FOR TODAY, Nelson Johnson and Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons in dialogue, FEBRUARY 23, THURSDAY 7:30 pm in Cannon Lounge (opposite dining room).
CIVIL RIGHTS VETERANS OF HOPE: COURAGE TO WORK FOR JUSTICE, conversation led by Nelson Johnson and Zoharah Simmons FEBRUARY 25, SATURDAY, from 9:00 am to noon, continental breakfast (Mel's homemade oat bran muffins and coffee/tea/juice). Donations appreciated.
DVDs from the Veterans of Hope Project including Bernice Johnson Reagon and Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons are available on loan and will be shown FEBRUARY 19, SUNDAY, 3:00-5:00 pm at Common Light. For a five-minute video biography and introduction to Dr. Simmons, see www.trinitywallstreet.org/institute/?2006.
MEDITATIVE CIRCLE DANCES, led by Barbara Nerenz Kelley, will brighten two more winter evenings-- THURSDAY, JANUARY 26th and THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, from 6 to 8 pm. All are welcome. ($10 each).
On MARCH 10-11, FRIDAY 6 to 9 pm and SATURDAY 10 am to 5 pm, she will offer a different experience, "COURAGE TO BE AT HOME IN THE BODY." This weekend of awareness and mindfulness combines movement and dance, drawing, writing, and a lot of sharing ($60, $l0 reduction for early registration until January 28). Refreshments provided; bring bag lunch for Saturday.
MEDITATIVE DANCES FOR SPRING will meet MARCH 16 through APRIL 20, THURSDAYS 11 am to 1 pm. No previous experience is needed. ($10 each session, with one class free for those who attend all six).
COMPASSIONATE COMMUNICATION: TWO-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP ON SKILLS TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS WITH SELF AND OTHERS
led by Catherine Clement, Organizational Consultant from Boulder, CO using Marshall Rosenberg's methods of non-violent communication to teach conflict resolution in personal, institutional, and political life MARCH 24-25, FRIDAY 9:00 am-5:00pm and SATURDAY 9:00am-5:00pm. $90 (two catered lunches included).
Series on NON-VIOLENCE, PRAYER, & PEACEMAKING: DEEPENING THE JOURNEY led by Dr. Daniel O. Snyder, Psychologist & Peace Studies Teacher from Springe, Germany and Black Mountain, NC. Co-sponsored by Pendle Hill, Dan led three illuminating and deepening weekends on Prayer and Peacemaking during Common Light's first year. This spring he offers a series of eight Wednesday evenings APRIL 12-MAY 31 6:00-8:00pm to catch us up and carry us further into the thought and spirituality of peacemaking. $75.
COURAGE TO BE AT WORK: THE POWER OF SELF led by Dr. Martha Summerville, Executive Consultant in Leadership and Organization Development from New Haven, CT on how to be yourself in the workplace APRIL 21-22, FRIDAY 5:00-9:00pm and SATURDAY 9:00am-5:00pm. $75 (dinner and lunch included).
INTUITIVE PAINTING: EXPLORING THE ARTIST WITHIN, a class offered for the first time at Common Light this past fall, will be taught again by GAETANA FRIEDMAN in the spring, this time in a two-day format with sessions from 9 am to 5 pm on FRIDAY (studio open until 8 pm for optional use) and SATURDAY, APRIL 28-29 ($130, including all materials and refreshments; bring lunch for Saturday).
POETRY ENGENDERING COURAGE led by Drs. Beth & Mel Keiser and Guilford Alumni. Last May Guilford alumni and others gathered around a philosopher, Merleau-Ponty; this time we gather around poetry. More later about the shape of this as it emerges in discussion with alumni. MAY 19-20, FRIDAY 5:00-9:00pm and SATURDAY 9:00am-5:00pm. No registration fee; dinner and lunch $18; Saturday night dinner optional, $10; donations appreciated.
PRESENT MOMENT MASSAGE THERAPY is available by appointment.
Call 828-664-9574, Margaret Jones, RN, LMBT.
POEM AND STORY SHARING is facilitated by Margaret Jones, writer, artist, and massage therapist, MONTHLY on FINAL FRIDAYS, 7-8:30 pm. All are welcome, no fee, donations accepted.
PAST EVENTS Fall 2005:
The fourteen people who shared the first weekend, "Women Claiming Courage," led by MariJo Moore and Laura Donaldson, found new meanings and energy for their own courageous living. This workshop became a transformative event as we interacted wholeheartedly with stories, poems, history, and each other's improvisational creative writing. For pictures, see our website at www.commonlight.org.Eighteen people gathered for a Day of Mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh led by Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe from the Lotus Institute in Asheville. Their reflections, focusing on the meanings of courage on the spiritual path, were gratefully received. The video documenting the problems in global merchandising epitomized by WALMART was shown to 25 people and a lively discussion followed led by Michael Galovic from Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting. Gaetana Friedman's class "Intuitive Painting: Exploring the Artist Within" concluded with nine inspired persons sharing the exciting results of their five sessions and asking for more opportunities to paint from the source in this supportive context. Barbara Nerenz-Kelley's Meditative Circle Dance series for Fall was a deepening experience for the ten people who formed the core of the group, and for the nineteen who gathered to dance for the Winter Solstice, there was a special magic in moving from dark and cold into the warmth and light of the sun's rebirth.
We are exceedingly grateful to the outstanding leaders who are gracing our events and to the participants who are sharing their creative energies in many ways. We don't know what wider effects Common Light has, if any, but we experience in ourselves and with participants a working together to cultivate personal wholeness and to mend the world through our various undertakings which makes us deeply appreciative and a bit awe-filled.
Yours in the common light,
Beth and Mel Keiser
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